1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for reproducing a video image recorded on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital contents have been distributed in various forms. In one known distribution form, digital contents related to each other are distributed using plural media.
For example, a main content such as video image and sound as a cinema motion picture is recorded on an optical disk typified by a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and the disk is provided, and sub contents such as captions are provided via a medium such as a Flash Media Server or a network. A user who handles such digital content reproduces the digital content using his/her reproducing apparatus such as a PC (Personal Computer) or a disk player. The reproducing apparatus handles the main content and the sub contents as if they were recorded on one medium (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-136762).
More particularly, audio information is recorded on the optical disk in addition to the main video image. Further, the sub contents stored on a content server on the network include captions in plural languages and application software. The sub contents are provided to the reproducing apparatus via, for example, the network. The main content and the sub contents recorded on the optical disk are linked with each other. The reproducing apparatus downloads the sub contents linked to the main content, and thereby utilizes the sub contents. The main content requiring a large storage capacity is recorded on the optical disk to be provided, and the sub contents requiring comparatively smaller storage capacity are provided via the network. In this manner, various contents can be provided independently of the storage capacity of optical disk medium. Further, the sub contents can be easily updated only by changing data on the content server.
Next, the configuration of the reproducing apparatus to realize the above digital data distribution will be described based on the drawings.
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a reproducing apparatus for video reproduction from an optical disk. In FIG. 16, reference numeral 1600 denotes a removable optical disk such as a DVD; 1601, an optical head unit having a motor, an actuator and the like to control an optical head and perform position control on the optical head; 1602, a drive controller to control driving of the optical head unit 1601; 1603, an error corrector; 1604, a separator to separate data; 1605, a product ID decoder to decode a product ID of the optical disk 1600; 1606, a network interface; 1607, a content decoder to decode content data such as a video image; 1608, an output unit to output information; 1609, an operation unit to receive a user's input; 1610, a content server; and 1620, a system controller.
Next, an operation of the above reproducing apparatus upon reproduction from the optical disk 1600 will be described. The optical disk 1600 holds content data such as a video image and audio information. When the operation unit 1609 receives an optical disk reproduction request from the user, the operation unit 1609 outputs the reproduction request to the system controller 1620. The system controller 1620 issues a data reading request to the drive controller 1602. The drive controller 1602 controls the optical head unit 1601, thereby controls the reading of data from the optical disk 1600. The optical head unit 1601 reads data from the optical disk 1600, and outputs the data to the error corrector 1603. The error corrector 1603 corrects defect(s) of the optical disk medium or error(s) upon recording and reproduction, and outputs a digital data string to the data separator 1604. The data separator 1604 separates the input digital data to content data such as video data and audio data, and management information such as a product ID to be described later. The data separator 1604 outputs the management information such as a product ID to the product ID decoder 1605, while outputting the content data to the content decoder 1607. The content decoder 1607 decodes the input video data and audio data, and outputs the decoded data to the output unit 1608. The output unit 1608 having a monitor, a speaker and the like outputs the decoded content data.
Next, reproduction of contents provided from the content server 1610 will be described. When the operation unit 1609 receives a list display request for display of reproducible contents in the form of list, the system controller 1620 controls the drive controller 1602 to read data including management information recorded in a predetermined area of the optical disk 1600. The data read from the optical disk 1600 is inputted into the data separator 1604 through a similar process to that described above. The data separator 1604 extracts the management information from the input data and outputs the management information to the product ID decoder 1605. The product ID decoder 1605 extracts a product ID and content server information from the management information.
Note that the product ID means information for identification of a content recorded on the optical disk 1600, for example, a product ID of the optical disk 1600. Further, the content server information means data indicating the location of the content server 1610 on the network such as a URL.
The product ID decoder 1605 outputs the product ID data and the content server information to the network interface 1606. The network interface 1606 establishes connection with the content server 1610 specified with the content server information via the network, and outputs the product ID data to the content server 1610. The content server 1610 returns available bind definition information corresponding to the product ID data to the reproducing apparatus. The bind definition information is a file in which a procedure necessary for bind processing to be described later is described. The system controller 1620 obtains the bind definition information via the network interface 1606, and binds the sub content data on the content server 1610 based on the bind definition information.
Note that “bind” means connecting main content data recorded on the local optical disk 1600 to sub content data provided from the content server 1610. Hereinbelow, a method for binding content data provided from the content server 1610 will be described.
FIG. 17A shows an example of a directory structure of content data stored on the optical disk 1600. A directory 1700 is a root directory of the content data recorded on the optical disk 1600; a directory 1710, a directory for storing management information; data 1711 is content server information; and data 1712, product ID data. Further, a directory 1720 is a main video directory for storing video data; and data 1721, video data. Further, a directory 1730 is a caption directory for storing caption data; and data 1731, caption data (language A and language B).
In a single optical disk having the structure shown in FIG. 17A, a “main video image” as the main video data and caption data “language A” and “language B” corresponding to the main video data are recorded. The reproducing apparatus can select the caption data “language A” or the caption data “language B” for the “main video image” when it performs reproduction.
On the other hand, FIG. 17B shows the directory structure of content data stored on the content server 1610 in FIG. 16. A directory 1740 is a root directory of the content data on the content server 1610; and directories 1750 and 1760, directories holding data corresponding to product IDs. Further, data 1751 is bind definition information; a directory 1770, a directory holding caption data; and data 1771, caption data (languages C to F).
The reproducing apparatus sends the product ID data 1712 of the optical disk 1600 to the content server 1610 having the above directory structure. The content server 1610 returns bind definition information recorded in a directory corresponding to the product ID of the optical disk 1600 to the reproducing apparatus.
For example, when the product ID of the optical disk 1600 is “0001”, the content server 1610 returns the bind definition information 1751 corresponding to the product ID “0001” to the reproducing apparatus. The bind definition information includes a description to add the contents included in the caption directory 1770 of the content server 1610 to the caption directory 1730 of the optical disk 1600.
The reproducing apparatus interprets the bind definition information 1751, and binds the contents on the content server 1610 to the content on the optical disk 1600. FIG. 18 shows the directory structure of the optical disk 1600 in which the contents are bound in accordance with the bind definition information 1751.
In FIG. 18, directories and data 1700 to 1731 correspond to the directories and data having the same reference numerals in FIG. 17A. As a result of binding in accordance with the bind definition information 1751, caption data 1732 is newly added. The caption data 1732 corresponds to the data 1771 in FIG. 17B. Note that the caption data 1732 after the binding is not actually recorded on the optical disk 1600, but linkage to the data on the content server 1610 is managed by the reproducing apparatus.
By the binding in accordance with the bind definition information, the reproducing apparatus can make a selection from captions in 6 languages, “language A” to “language F”, for the “main video A” when it performs reproduction. Note that the “language C” to “language F” caption data are link information as described above. Accordingly, when the user has given the instruction for reproduction, the reproducing apparatus downloads the content from the content server via the network and perform reproduction.
As described above, contents on a network, which are not included in a local optical disk, can be utilized as if they are parts of a content included in the optical disk by binding the content in accordance with bind definition information corresponding to a product ID.
However, the bind definition information for binding as described above is provided in correspondence with only a product ID of a package medium. Accordingly, it is impossible to perform addition, change and the like of content to be bound in correspondence with user's content reproducing situation or the like.